I propose to take Questions Nos. 14 and 23 together.
As I have indicated to the House on many occasions, I am extremely concerned about flagships from a number of perspectives — notably, the serious difficulties of control and enforcement arising from their activities in our waters and the fact that flagships benefit from national quotas without providing real economic benefits for the fishing communities of the flag state.
There are approximately 150 flagships operating in these waters. The majority are registered in the UK, while 12 are on the Irish register and some are registered in France and Germany. They are owned, crewed and operated by companies or individuals in other EU member states, mostly Spain, and their catch is mainly landed in other member states, which imposes particular enforcement problems.
Flagships fish against the quota allocations of the member state of registry. The management, control and access to national quotas by such vessels is therefore a matter for the flag state concerned rather than the coastal state where the fishing activity is carried out. The fishing activity of flagships, and all vessels irrespective of nationality, in these waters is closely monitored by the Irish fishery protection services with considerable resources being applied to targeting potentially illegal activity on land and at sea.
Ireland has consistently pressed the UK authorities to co-operate more closely with us in monitoring and controlling fishing activities of UK registered flagships in these waters. We are also putting pressure on the Spanish authorities to improve the policing of landings by flagships in their ports which is also a matter of direct and considerable concern for us.
I used the opportunity of the Irish Presidency to take an initiative geared towards improving practical co-operation between member states on fisheries control and enforcement. This was designed, among other objectives, to bring about substantially improved scrutiny by other member states of flagship activity and to encourage better information exchange. As a result of this initiative, the Fisheries Council agreed a number of practical initiatives to improve communication and co-operation on fisheries control, including better co-operation on land-based inspections in member states other than the flag state. We are working to ensure these commitments are delivered on through bilateral discussions with Spain and the UK and at technical working groups on control involving the Commission and other member states.
The operation of flagships is legitimate business under the general Treaty provisions relating to right of establishment and freedom of movement.I am, however, concerned to ensure there is the necessary link between the economic benefits of national fish quotas and the national coastal areas dependent on fishing. We share the concerns of the UK in this regard and have said so at the Intergovernmental Conference when the issue was aired, while taking the view that there may be ways other than a Treaty change to secure the same objective.
I will continue to explore actively with the Commission, the UK and other member states ways of securing that objective, in addition to pushing all relevant member states to ensure that the activities of flagships are adequately controlled both at sea and in port. I am not prepared to tolerate flouting of fisheries law by flagships or any fishing vessels, irrespective of nationality, operating in these waters. European fish stocks are under severe pressure and the activities of flagships must be recognised as one of the dimensions of the overall conservation and enforcement problem. Enhanced control of flagships by their states of registry and by the member states in which they land their catches is essential to our efforts as a coastal state to protect stocks and enforce the rules.